"I know, Trot, and that's what sticks me. We're livin' in a magic
country, but neither of us knows any magic an' so we can't help
ourselves."

"Couldn't the Wizard of Oz help us--or Glinda the Good?" asked the
little girl.

"Ah, now we're beginnin' to reason," he answered. "I'd probably
thought o' that, myself, in a minute more. By good luck the Glass Cat
is free, an' so it can run back to the Emerald City an' tell the Wizard
about our fix, an' ask him to come an' help us get loose."

"Will you go?" Trot asked the cat, speaking very earnestly.

"I'm no messenger, to be sent here and there," asserted the curious
animal in a sulky tone of voice.

"Well," said Cap'n Bill, "you've got to go home, anyhow, 'cause you
don't want to stay here, I take it. And, when you get home, it
wouldn't worry you much to tell the Wizard what's happened to us."

"That's true," said the cat, sitting on its haunches and lazily washing
its face with one glass paw. "I don't mind telling the Wizard--when I
get home."

"Won't you go now?" pleaded Trot. "We don't want to stay here any
longer than we can help, and everybody in Oz will be interested in you,
and call you a hero, and say nice things about you because you helped
your friends out of trouble."

That was the best way to manage the Glass Cat, which was so vain that
it loved to be praised.

"I'm going home right away," said the creature, "and I'll tell the
Wizard to come and help you."

Saying this, it walked down to the water and disappeared under the
surface. Not being able to manage the raft alone, the Glass Cat walked
on the bottom of the river as it had done when it visited the island
before, and soon they saw it appear on the farther bank and trot into
the forest, where it was quickly lost to sight among the trees.

Then Trot heaved a deep sigh.

"Cap'n," said she, "we're in a bad fix. There's nothing here to eat,
and we can't even lie down to sleep. Unless the Glass Cat hurries, and
the Wizard hurries, I don't know what's going to become of us!"

11. The Beasts of the Forest of Gugu

That was a wonderful gathering of wild animals in the Forest of Gugu
next sunrise. Rango, the Gray Ape, had even called his monkey
sentinels away from the forest edge, and every beast, little and big,
was in the great clearing where meetings were held on occasions of
great importance.

In the center of the clearing stood a great shelving rock, having a
flat, inclin